Production GuideObservations: Earthbound
Production Guide
The first shot of the rescue Eagle is reversed (notice the Alpha logo). The shot that follows is exactly the same footage but shown correctly.
The This Episode sequence includes an unused shot of the 22 inch Rescue Eagle flying low over the lunar surface. In the episode we see two other shots, one with a foreground gravity tower, the other looking down and showing the Eagle shadow beneath it.
As Alan watches the Kaldorian ship crash-landing, his co-pilot disappears in one shot.
When they board the Eagle on the launch pad, it is docked to the starboard but they enter through the port side.
The Eagle docks to the Kaldorian ship on the starboard side. They enter it through the port side.
In close up we see the Eagle dock to Kaldorian ship. In longer views, the passenger module is lower than the side of the alien ship.
Eagle 1 has a sign above the main doors saying "Rescue Eagle 7"
Koenig scans the door with the Geiger counter from Breakaway, now with coiled wires and a probe.
Bergman's scanner is a Braun hairdryer (the base of the visor is the air nozzle). It is a 1971 Braun HLD 6/61 hair-dryer, designed by Jurgen Greubel. The probe that Bergman attaches to the door is probably an electrical aquarium heater. Thanks to Mantiss.
When Alan's Eagle leaves the Kaldorian ship, leaving the pod docked, the shot begins a second or so early. The thrusters begin to fire after the Eagle has already lifted a little from the pod. The initial blast of dust from the jets probably looked impressive enough that the editor overlooked the starting position of the Eagle... Thanks to Christopher Enckell.
The freon gas cans that kick up dust from the Eagle vertical rockets are normally in the passenger module. For this shot, a special pipe had to be run from the back of the Eagle to carry the gas to the front rocket. You can see the pipe coming out alongside the rear section door.
Helena's drill is a battery-powered Kenwood hand mixer with a very long drill bit. Kenwood is a leading UK kitchen appliance company, and many of their products in the 1970s were designed by Kenneth Grange of the Pentagram design consultancy. Although cordless power drills existed at the time (invented by Black and Decker in 1961), they were expensive and marketed only to industry. The first widely available portable drill was from Makita in 1978. Thanks to Simon.
In one scene, Alan is fiddling with the Eagle remote control (as seen in Breakaway).
Notice the floor marks indicating where the actors should stand.
When the Kaldorian ship lands, Simmonds leaves Main Mission to meet Zantor. As he leaves Main Mission we see operative Andy Dempsey at his desk. When he arrives at the corridor, Dempsey is standing at a doorway in the corridor.
Simmonds doesn't just steal Koenig's commlock; in this scene he is wearing Bergman's commlock.
While Helena is in suspended animation, her hands are flat and palm down. "Well, Captain?" asks Koenig as Zantor attempts to revive her. We pan across, to see that Helena's fingers are stretched out, but still. We cut to a close up of her face, and pan down to her hands- now flat again, before they turn and stretch. Thanks to Richard Totis.
Simmonds should be talking to the communications post, not empty seats in the block of desks. In this shot we can see just beyond the left corner of the set (seen below the communications post). The corner blocks are missing from the end of the desks, and the desk lamps have moved forward (they were in their normal central position when seen earlier).
By the commlock screen there is normally an angled side with a grille on it- assumed to be the "microphone" (see the close-up showing the lunar time). Simmonds' commlock doesn't have that section - we see the angled sides, but the microphone isn't there, and we see more of the screen hood. Thanks to Richard Totis.
When Simmonds sees the lunar time, we see a close-up of the commlock. The wide shot shows him holding the commlock with both hands- not one as in the close-up. It's not clear in the wide shot until he moves, but he is holding the commlock with the back away from him; in close-up, it is the other way round, with the clip towards him. Thanks to Richard Totis.
Koenig is still wearing Simmonds' commlock here. In wider shots, and when he returns to his desk, he is wearing his own commlock (with the wonky buttons). Thanks to Richard Totis.
Copyright Martin Willey